"Two-Michelin-starred Lazy Bear built its reputation on being a fine-dining dinner party. The lore has been oft-told: Chef David Barzelay began running underground dinner parties out of his apartment, then later, a warehouse when they outgrew his home. By the time those parties developed into a full-blown, “legit” space at 3416 19th Street in the Mission, Barzelay continued with the format. It made sense to maintain the style that grew the Lazy Bear brand, but eventually, things needed to evolve. On the occasion of the restaurant’s 10th anniversary this year, Barzelay and managing partner Colleen Booth pushed through a nearly two-month renovation of the Lazy Bear space that began at the start of August, updating the kitchen, dining room, and mezzanine to both fit their team and keep the high-caliber guest experience. “A lot of the changes are very much things noticeable to guests directly,” Barzelay says, “but a lot of the updates are also things that more affect the staff, in ways that allow us to do more or better or more efficient stuff for our guests.” Lazy Bear has always leaned into the name of the restaurant by creating a space that evokes foresty touches, including kitschy-fun Smokey Bear signage and faux animal trophy heads. And while it retains many of those touches that helped curb any stuffy fine dining feel, the update leans into those early forest themes. The entryway includes massive sheets of exposed rock, mimicking the opening to a bear cave, before giving way to the cavernous heights of the dining room. The upstairs mezzanine was given a more wood-wrapped update emphasizing the cabin vibe. The bathrooms offer some moments of softness against the harsh rock cave and cabin feel, more akin to a meadow, says Booth. “I think it’s just one of those more romanticized, aesthetic ways of pulling the whole story together that I think, before, we didn’t fully connect the dots [of this theme].” Lazy Bear’s upgrade is a mix of changes that will and won’t be (initially) perceived by diners, but it’s an elegant, grown version of what’s come before it. One of the biggest changes was dropping the dining room-length tables that contributed to the dinner party atmosphere. It was a change first precipitated by the pandemic, informed by the necessity of social distancing upon Lazy Bear’s return in 2021, but now the restaurant is fully leaning into it. For this update, Barzelay buzzed those long tables into smaller sizes for the dining room — a commitment to leaving those dinner party days behind (for now) to chase better service and hospitality that can only happen with more space. Plate and sauce presentation, or, say the restaurant’s new tableside butter service can happen with more ease, versus the previous dance of having to navigate around those long, long tables. “We had been thinking of moving away from the communal format for a couple of years before the pandemic,” Barzelay says. “All of the constraints on us at that point — the space, the timing, the number of people — we felt like we were doing about as well as we could within [that setup] and we just wanted a little more room to grow.” Noticeably, a banquette is installed along the wall of the restaurant with those aforementioned shortened tables, adding a luxe touch alongside new goldenrod-hued mohair chairs. Barzelay and Booth also took another pandemic lesson and made it permanent: For a time, the restaurant sat diners at tables on the second-level mezzanine, with only half of the space able to fully appreciate overhead views of the dining room and kitchen. Now those balcony-side tables are back, giving some lucky diners a chance to watch the restaurant action from above. The other half of the mezzanine remains anchored by the large leather couch, where diners will continue to have their post-meal desserts and drinks. But the imperceptible alterations diners will benefit from, are upgrades to the kitchen and systems of how the Lazy Bear team works together. The pastry team, for instance, was relegated to plating downstairs during the pandemic, but now they are in the main kitchen again, thanks to the updates. The new service stations offer subtle touches that increase efficiency and convenience, such as an integrated, custom wine bucket, new wine fridges, and a new sparkling water system. The restaurant updated its Santa Maria-style grill to a new one by Grills by Demant, which includes a live firebox and expands how the team grills and cooks, Barzelay says. The kitchen staff can cook over the open flame, of course, but they can also now cook over coals, bury ingredients into the coals for a different technique, or smoke items over the grill slowly for days. It’s the culmination of lessons learned in the restaurant’s decade in business, a commitment to always improving, but also retaining the best parts of itself. “We weren’t really trying to change the vibe,” Barzelay says. “I just wanted to upgrade the experience in a lot of different ways. We wanted to make it more refined, more luxurious, but still express the sense of fun that I think we bring to dining experiences.” Lazy Bear (3416 19th Street) is open from 4:45 p.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, by reservation only, with tickets for December available now via Tock. The restaurant also has upcoming special events, such as its holiday wine dinners on Friday, December 20, and Saturday, December 21, and a special New Year’s Eve event." - Dianne de Guzman
